List of countries visited by Biggles
This list is incomplete. Everyone is invited to add to the list. One of the enduring legacies of the W. E. Johns novels is the way they introduced readers to places all around the world. This was the pre-internet era, a time when when international travel was a luxury and information about foreign lands was scarce. How many readers then would have known where the Terai or the Mergui Archipelago is? Even with the advantage of the internet today, how many would know off-hand? Below is a comprehensive list of countries of the world, with annotations against those visited by Biggles and his friends in the course of their adventures. In the list below, the following colour codes are used: *Country names in bold black: **Countries visited by Biggles or any of his friend, Algy, Ginger, Bertie and also those visited by Gimlet and Worrals. Refueling or transit stops also count. or, **Countries whose airspace Biggles or his friends flew over in the course of operations. So a reconnaissance overflight counts but simply transiting the airspace on the way to somewhere else does not. *Country names in : **Countries mentioned in the text of a Biggles/Gimlet/Worrals book but not visited by Biggles or his friends. **So transiting the airspace counts as a mention. *Countries names which are : **Countries not visited nor mentioned in the text. Country names and boundaries have changed since Biggles' time. This list gives the current names of countries but they are counted as visited if they were once part of a territory which Biggles visited. Hence South Sudan and Sudan both count as visited because Biggles once visited Sudan. Biggles visited many more countries in the stories of derivative works such as the comics published by Studio Vandersteen. These additional countries are not counted here. Only the original Johns works are considered. Africa Africa presents unique challenges when reckoning the number of countries Biggles visited because the boundaries have changed the most. For example French West Africa is mentioned in No Rest for Biggles as a potential search area for General Mander's lost Hastings aircraft. But French West Africa was not so much a country or a single colony but a conglomerate of eight French colonial territories in Africa: Mauritania, Senegal, French Sudan (now Mali), French Guinea, Ivory Coast, Upper Volta (now Burkina Faso), Dahomey (now Benin) and Niger. At other times, these colonies are mentioned separately. In fact, Dahomey is mentioned individually when Biggles is listing the search areas. The list only counts instances when any of these colonies are mentioned individually. French Equatorial Africa was also a federation of individual colonies until 1934 when it became a unitary colony. When the colony was granted independence, its component territories Chad, Oubangui-Chari (currently Central African Republic), French Congo (currently Republic of the Congo), Gabon and French Cameroon (currently part of Cameroon) became five separate independent countries. Since they once formed part of a unitary colony, all five present day countries are counted whenever French Equatorial Africa is mentioned or visited. Total Count: 13 Visited, 15 mentioned *'Algeria' **''The Unknown Diamonds. **Biggles Foreign Legionnaire. City of Siddi Bel Abbes. Town of Zebrit (fictitious). Village of Chella (fictitious). Algiers. *'Angola''' **''Biggles Sorts It Out. Nova Lisboa (now Huambo). Biggles refueled here on the way to Southwest Africa. *' ' **No Rest for Biggles. Was Dahomey. Mentioned as a potential search area for General Mander's lost Hastings. *Botswana *Burkina Faso *Burundi *' ' - was part of French Equatorial Africa. **Biggles and the Black Raider. French Equatorial Africa mentioned as Northwestern limit of Black Elephant's operating area. * *' '- was part of French Equatorial Africa. **Biggles and the Black Raider. French Equatorial Africa mentioned as Northwestern limit of Black Elephant's operating area. *' ' - was part of French Equatorial Africa **Biggles and the Black Raider. French Equatorial Africa mentioned as Northwestern limit of Black Elephant's operating area. *Comoros *' ' - was part of French Equatorial Africa. **Biggles and the Black Raider. French Equatorial Africa mentioned as Northwestern limit of Black Elephant's operating area. **Biggles Sorts It Out. City of Brazzaville mentioned as Browning's refueling stop. *' ' **Biggles and the Black Raider. Was Belgian Congo. Part of the Black Elephant's operating area. *' ' **Biggles Foreign Legionnaire. Was French Somaliland. Mentioned. A stolen Breguet bomber attacked an Ethiopian village from here. *'Egypt''' **''Biggles in the Orient. Alexandria, in transit. **Sergeant Bigglesworth C.I.D.. Alexandria, Cairo (Heliopolis). **Biggles Hunts Big Game'' - a lot action in Cairo. **''Biggles Foreign Legionnaire. Alexandria: Biggles sees much action here. Cairo: Air Commodore Raymond arrives in Egypt here. *Equatorial Guinea *Eritrea *'Ethiopia''' - Was Abyssinia. Both names used in various books. **''Sergeant Bigglesworth C.I.D.. Gontermann's base just across the border from Sudan. **Biggles Foreign Legionnaire. Mentioned.Abyssinian village bombed by a stolen French bomber. **Biggles and the Black Raider. Mentioned. Ethiopia believed to be market for Black Elephant's stolen cattle. *' ' - Was part of French Equatorial Africa. **Biggles and the Black Raider. French Equatorial Africa mentioned as Northwestern limit of Black Elephant's operating area. *Gambia *'Ghana''' **''No Rest for Biggles. Was Gold Coast, then a British colony. Biggles' mission ended here. *'Guinea''' **''Equatorial Encounter'' - Kankan in what was then French Guinea. *Guinea-Bissau *Ivory Coast *'Kenya' **''Biggles and the Black Raider. Lake Rudolph area. Biggles searched all the way to the northern tip of the lake. *Lesotho *'Liberia''' **''No Rest for Biggles. *'Libya''' **''Sergeant Bigglesworth C.I.D.. Castel Benito, Tripoli, and El Zufra. *' ' **Biggles and the Black Raider''- Was Nyasaland. Southern limit of the Black Elephant's operating area. *' ' **''No Rest for Biggles. Was French Sudan. Mentioned. Von Stalhein's escape aircraft found here. *'Madagascar''' **''Biggles and the Pirate Treasure (short story)'' *Mauritania *Mauritius *' ' **Casablanca - Biggles Sorts It Out. Browning, Biggles' suspect refueled here. *Mozambique *'Namibia' **''The Unknown Diamonds. **Biggles Sorts It Out. Windhoek, Fort Schwarz in the Kalahari *Niger *'Nigeria''' **''No Rest for Biggles. City of Kano. Biggles took off from here on Operation Lex. *' ' **Mount Karisimbi - navigation landmark in Ginger's flight to the Illumbwa Reserve. * *'Senegal''' **''Biggles at World's End'' - Dakar, transit stop. **''No Rest for Biggles. Dakar. Algy transits here. **Biggles Sorts It Out. Browning, Biggles' suspect refueled here. *Seychelles *'Sierra Leone''' **''No Rest for Biggles. Mentioned as a potential search area for General Mander's lost Hastings. **Equatorial Encounter'' - Freetown. *Somalia *'South Africa' **''Biggles Cuts It Fine - Cape Town. *'South Sudan' - see under Sudan. *'Sudan' **''Biggles in Africa'' - Malakal, Insula **''Sergeant Bigglesworth C.I.D.''- Khartoum. **''Biggles Hunts Big Game'' - Kudinga. **''Biggles and the Black Raider'' - Juba - headquarters of Lieutenant Haynes of the Kings African Rifles. Biggles considers moving his base here as the Black Elephant moves north. **''Biggles Works Overtime'' - visits Suakin **''Biggles and the Leopards of Zinn'' - Malakal. Refueling stop for Biggles on his way to Lake Jumu. *Swaziland *'Tanzania' **''Biggles and the Black Raider. Was Tanganyika territory. Ginger flew Mishu here and while on the ground, sighted the Black Elephant. *Togo *Tunisia *'Uganda''' **''Biggles and the Black Raider. Kampala, the Ruwenzori massif, Latonga north of Lake Albert. *' ' **Biggles and the Black Raider. Was Northern Rhodesia. The Black Elephant struck at fictitious area of Ulunga. A survivor made it to Kasama to make a report. *Zimbabwe Asia *Afghanistan *'Bahrain''' **''Sergeant Bigglesworth C.I.D.. Algy and Bertie flew to the Persian Gulf and found the wheel tracks of the Renkell transport aircraft near Bahrain. *'Bangladesh''' **''Biggles Hits the Trail. Chittagong was the jump-off point for the expedition into TIbet. They also flew back here at the end of the story. **Biggles in the Orient. Was part of British India. Biggles was assigned to the Burma front. **Biggles in the Gobi. Mission launched and ended at Dacca. *Bhutan *'Brunei''' **''Biggles in Borneo'' *'Burma (Myanmar)' **''Biggles – Air Commodore. Tavoy, Mergui Archipelago. **Biggles Delivers the Goods'' **''Biggles and the Lost Sovereigns. Mergui Archipelago, Victoria Point, Mergui *Cambodia *'China''' **''Biggles in the Orient. Chungking. **Biggles Gets His Men. Manchuria. **Biggles Follows On. Kratsen, Manchuria. **Biggles in the Gobi. Gobi Desert area around Tunhwang. Nan-hu. **Biggles Buries a Hatchet'' - Hong Kong, transit. *East Timor *'India' **''Biggles in the Orient. Calcutta and other places in the northeast. **Biggles Makes Ends Meet. Nicobar Islands. **Biggles in the Terai. Calcutta and Shara (fictitious) in the northeast. *'Indonesia''' **''The Oriental Touch. Lombok, Surabaya, Jakarta. Transit. **Biggles in Borneo. Surabaya, Bertie on a photo-reconnaissance flight. **Biggles Makes Ends Meet. Kutaradja. Today known as Banda Aceh. *'Iran''' **''Three Weeks'' - Jask, Tunb Island, Lingeh *'Iraq' **''Biggles in the Orient. Hinaidi Airfield, in transit. **Biggles Foreign Legionnaire. Extensive travels. Kirkuk, Valley of the Tartars (fictitious), Mosul, Baghdad. *' ' **Biggles Foreign Legionnaire. Mentioned. Peace talks scuppered by mystery aircraft attack on Transjordan. *'Japan''' **''Biggles Buries a Hatchet'' - Tokyo and various U.S. airbases *' ' **''Biggles Foreign Legionnaire. Was Transjordan. Mentioned. Group of Arab workers attacked by a mystery aircraft. *Kazakhstan *Korea, North *'Korea, South''' **''Biggles Follows On'' *Kuwait *Kyrgyzstan *Laos *Lebanon *'Malaysia' **''The Oriental Touch. Penang. **Biggles in Borneo. **Biggles Makes Ends Meet'' **''Biggles and the Lost Sovereigns. Penang Airport refueling stop. **Biggles and the Blue Moon'' *Maldives *Mongolia *Nepal *'Oman' **Three Weeks'' - flies over Musandam peninsula *'Pakistan' **''Three Weeks. Karachi, Gwadir. **Biggles Hits the Trail. Karachi, in transit. **Biggles in the Orient. Drigh Road Airfield, Karachi, in transit.'' *'Philippines' **''Biggles in Borneo. Cotabato, island of Mindanao. *Qatar *'Russian Federation' **''Biggles Sees It Through'' - Biggles probably flew over Russian territory in his search for the documents. When he was captured, he and his friends were taken to an airbase which he believed was on Lake Onega. **''Biggles Buries a Hatchet'' - Sakhalin *Saudi Arabia *'Singapore' **''The Oriental Touch. Host by the R.A.F. Flying boat Squadron there. **Biggles – Air Commodore'' **''Biggles in Borneo. Photo-reconnaissance mission. **Biggles Makes Ends Meet. Biggles goes there to make a report. **Biggles and the Lost Sovereigns. Mission began and ended there. *'Sri Lanka''' **''Biggles Makes Ends Meet. Was Ceylon. City of Jaffna in the north. *Syria *Tajikistan *' ' **Biggles Makes Ends Meet. Phuket (he calls it Puket). Mentioned as an airport near to the Nicobars. *'Tibet''' **''Biggles Hits the Trail'' *'Turkey' **''Biggles Takes Charge'' - likely to have refuelled before heading to the target area in Moldavia. **''Biggles' Special Case'' - Ankara, refuelling stop. *Turkmenistan *'United Arab Emirates' **''Three Weeks. Well the UAE claims Tunb Island and we don't want to create a diplomatic incident by falling to mention it. *Uzbekistan *'Vietnam''' **''Biggles Foreign Legionnaire. Was French Indochina. Mentioned. Another location of an attack by a mystery aircraft. **Biggles' Chinese Puzzle (short story)'' - Saigon. *'Yemen' **''Another Job for Biggles. The city of Aden, which is today part of Yemen. Europe *'Albania''' **''The Case of the Lost Coins'' *Andorra *Armenia *'Austria' **''The Case of the Phone Box Murder'' **''Biggles Looks Back'' - transit by rail *'Azerbaijan' **''The Adventure of the Counterfeit Crusaders'' - Baku was the jump-off point *Belarus *Belgium *Bosnia and Herzegovina *Bulgaria *Croatia *'Cyprus' **''Biggles Takes Charge'' *'Czech Republic' (was part of Czechoslovakia in Biggles' time) **''Biggles Follows On. Prague. **Biggles Looks Back'' - town of Rodnitz in Bohemia *' ' **''The Black Peril'' - overflown on way back to England *Estonia *'Finland' **Biggles Sees It Through *'France' **''Biggles' Combined Operation. Paris, Marseilles. *Georgia *'Germany''' **''The Black Peril'' - Holtenau, Danzig and along the Baltic Coast *'Greece' **''Biggles' Combined Operation. Island of Venesos (fictitious) in the Northern Sporades. *Hungary *Iceland *Ireland *'Italy''' **''The Case of the Wounded Agent'' - Brindisi *Latvia *Liechtenstein *' ' **''The Black Peril'' - overflown on way to Sweden *Luxembourg *Macedonia *'Malta' **''Biggles in the Orient. Calafrana, in transit. **Biggles' Combined Operation. Refueling stop. *Moldova *'Monaco''' **''Biggles Fails to Return. **Biggles Takes Charge. *Montenegro *Netherlands *'Norway''' **''Biggles Defies the Swastika. *Poland *Portugal *'Romania''' **''Biggles Takes Charge'' *San Marino *Serbia *'Slovakia' (was part of Czechoslovakia in Biggles' time) **''Biggles Follows On. Prague. *Slovenia *'Spain''' **''Biggles in Spain. *'Sweden''' **''The Black Peril'' - Christianbad **''Biggles on Mystery Island'' - Stockholm, to meet Sven Heldersen. *'Switzerland' **''Biggles Looks Back'' - entry by air, transit by rail to Czechoslovakia *Ukraine *'United Kingdom' **His home country. Many stories are based here. *Vatican City North and Central America *Antigua and Barbuda *'Bahamas' **''Biggles in the Blue. Island of Inagua. *Barbados *'Belize''' **''Biggles in the Jungle. *'Canada''' **''Biggles Flies North. *Costa Rica *Cuba *Dominica *Dominican Republic *El Salvador *Grenada *Guatemala *Haiti *Honduras *'Jamaica''' **''Biggles in the Blue. *'Mexico''' **''Biggles in Mexico. Sonoyta, Eltora and Mexico City *Nicaragua *Panama **The Gold Rush. Panama City, transit stop. **Fair Cargo. Cristobal. *Saint Kitts and Nevis *Saint Lucia *Saint Vincent and the Grenadines *'Trinidad and Tobago''' **''The Gold Rush. Port of Spain, transit stop. *'United States''' **''The Cruise of the Condor'' - New York **''Biggles in Mexico'' - San Francisco Oceania *'Australia' **''Biggles Works It Out'' **''Biggles Cuts It Fine'' **''Biggles in Australia'' **''Biggles on Mystery Island'' *'Fiji' **''Biggles on Mystery Island'' *' ' **''Biggles on Mystery Island'' - mention of Christmas Island *Marshall Islands *Micronesia *Nauru *New Zealand *Palau *'Papua New Guinea' **''Savages and Wings. Fly River, Port Moresby. **The Case of the Modern Pirate'' *Samoa *Solomon Islands *'Tonga' **''Beauty and the Beast'' and Bob's Box. Rarotayo, the Kaisora. *Tuvalu *Vanuatu South America *'Argentina' **''Biggles Takes a Holiday'' - Buenos Aires, Paradise Valley **''Biggles at World's End'' - Buenos Aires, Bahia Blanca, Santa Cruz, Rio Gallegos. Transit stops. **''Biggles and the Little Green God'' - Buenos Aires - refuelling stop *'Bolivia' **''The Cruise of the Condor'' - Cochabamba, La Paz, Mollendo **''The Maid and the Mountains'' - La Paz. *'Brazil' **''The Cruise of the Condor'' - Manaus and the Mato Grosso **''Biggles at World's End'' - Natal, Rio de Janeiro. Transit stops. **''Orchids for Biggles'' - Manicore, Porto Velho. Transit stops. *'Chile' **''Biggles at World's End'' - Punta Arenas **''Biggles and the Little Green God'' - Santiago *'Colombia' **''The Gold Rush'' - Buenaventura, transit stop. *Ecuador *'Guyana' **''The Gold Rush. Then British Guiana. Georgetown. *Paraguay *'Peru''' **''The Gold Rush'' - Lima, Pisco. **''Orchids for Biggles'' - Cruzuado, Puerto Vecho *Suriname *'Uruguay' **''Biggles at World's End'' - Montevideo, transit stop. *'Venezuela' **''The Gold Rush'' - Maracaibo, transit stop. Other Territories *'Antarctica' **''Biggles Breaks the Silence. *'French Southern and Antarctic Lands''' **''Biggles' Second Case'' - Kerguelen **''Biggles Cuts It Fine'' - Crozet Islands *'French Polynesia' **''Biggles on Mystery Island'' - Tahiti and the Marquesas. Category:Research Topics